Light Within the Darkness
by WordsOfTheOutcast
Summary: The time is post Xehanort's first attempt to make Sora his vessel. He and Riku have returned to Destiny Island, living as normal of lives as they can. Memories run through them, bringing them to wonder how their friendship will be with their growing emotions. Rated M for psychological material and sexual intimacy in later chapters
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

A brunette male was laying in his bed, clearly out of it. His alarm was sounding off, yet it didn't even manage to make him budge. He seemed so relaxed. It was as if he was thinking he was still on his school break. A light smile was on his face. He appeared to be dreaming of something, but of what? Likely the usual. That was to be expected.

"Sora, get up! You have school today!" A warm, yet mature female voice sounded from the nearby staircase outside the open door to his bedroom unexpectedly.

A loud groan sounded from the teen, clearly awake now. However, he most definitely didn't want to be. His body moved to where his his stomach laid against the mattress, pulling a pillow from under his head to lay over it.

"Mom," he said, voice muffled by the mattress and pillow combined, "it's still summer! Let me sleep!"

Footsteps were heard close by, getting even closer with each step. The voice only followed.

"Sora, you know school starts today. The break is over."

"Can't I just skip school today?"

His mom chuckled. "No, you can't, Sora," she said simply. "Now come on, get up." A hand touched his shoulder, lightly shaking him. He tried to pull off an act that he was still asleep, despite the fact he acted very much awake some moments before.

"Now you get up before you miss your breakfast."

It appeared the mention of breakfast woke the rebellious boy. Finally, he shoved the pillow off his head, revealing a hilariously spiky bedhead. Strands of hair stood up in all places as Sora brought his body to sit up, letting out a loud yawn.

'Alright, alright, I'm up," he said, beautiful sapphire orbs close to being hidden by squinting eyelids. A necklace of sort dangled from his neck, a silver chain keeping hold of an amazing crown charm. It's appearance was simple, yet it still held a great beauty to it.

His mother smiled, lightly chuckling, at the sight of her son. "Get dressed, Sora," she said, still chuckling as she was unable to keep her eyes from his hair. It was absolutely crazy. Just how could he cope with his hair in such a state?

"Your uniform is in the bathroom," she said, managing to stop her light laughter before finally walking out, leaving the brunette behind to give him his privacy.

Sora let out a loud sigh, his back crashing to his bed. Just why did the vacation have to end? It was only a sex-week vacation, which was a tad saddening. But, at least there would only be nine weeks of school until the next vacation.

But, another downside was that there was vacation homework and studying to do.

Wait...

"Oh, crap!" Sora's legs swooped up, feet quickly landing on the floor as he stood up, suddenly beginning to run for the bathroom. He quickly put on his uniform, running out of the room afterward and heading down the stairs. He snatched his nearby bookcase, darting for the kitchen.

"Do you have a pencil!?"

Just as his mom was setting up a plate of food down with his breakfast ready, the teen had already slammed his rear on the base of the chair. He moved the plate to the right, his other hand pulling out an algebra book willed with twenty-fine percent completed homework. On the table, thankfully for him, there was a pencil nearby. Quickly, he grabbed it.

"Oh, nevermind," the brunette said with a loud sigh in relief. "I have one."

In the corner of his eye, he could see his mom's arms cross.

"Sora," she said in a disappointed tone, "what have I told you about doing your work at the last minute?"

"I know, I know," he said in reply, his left hand writing legible answers his tired mind was just barely able to construct. In the process, his right hand brought food to his mouth, chewing and swallowing it in a flash before getting more. He heard a sigh from his mom's direction and had a high feeling he knew what she was going to do now.

"Well, I guess I can't change habits. I hope you do well on your coming tests."

This surprised the male teen quite a bit. His hands came to a halt, his neck slowly turning as if he were a robot that hadn't had any oil for some time.

"No scolding?" he asked, astonished.

"Oh, believe me. A grounding from your computer and cell phone maybe in the very near future if your grades don't come up."

Sora shuddered lightly in intimidation. Having a lack in technology was no high school student's wish, and he didn't want to be the first to actually want such a thing. Then he'd wonder what the heck is wrong with him.

With a light, shaky voice, he quickly said, "Alright, I get it."

His mom smiled. "Good," she said. "Now don't forget you have an hour before you need to walk for school."

Sora suddenly yawned. "I know, I know," he said as he continued to shove what was left of his breakfast in his mouth. His eyes reverted back to his homework. "I usual do, since you wake me up so early."

"And it's apparently a good thing, too," she said in reply. "This occurrence shows it."

"Oh be quiet," he said with a light sulk, his homework only having a couple blank problems left. "I know. Technically, though, I was the one who made the idea."

She laughed. "I don't think so," she said, grabbing a nearby bento box and placing it next to his work. "Last I checked, it was your father."

"Yeah, yeah," he said, eyes lightly rolling as his pencil wrote the last variable in his book for the homework. At least, he hoped.

"So, do you know when your friends will be coming?"

"No, he said, opening his bookcase and placing the bento inside. "They usually come by about... um, five minutes before I would usually leave." He had never been too good on timing, and so wasn't so sure if he was right about how long it takes his friends to come by and walk to school with him.

Much to his surprise, he and his mom heard the sound of the doorbell outside.

"Hello," a voice sounded that brought a suddenly blush to the brunette's face. "It's Riku Kojima. I'm here to pick up Sora for school."

Riku.

Only recently had he realized his mind was treating him as if he were more than a friend. He remembered when it began clear as day.

When Kairi taught him how to see that "Ansem" was, in fact, Riku under a... curse of sort. When he fell to his knees, overjoyed and crying.

"I looked everywhere for you!"

The words rang through his ears like crisp, modern music.

What was an even greater indicator was that, when he had been leading Riku to the water in the Land of Darkness, his hand...

"Sora, are you alright?"

"Huh?" Immediately, he was pulled out of his subconscious.

"Are you alright," his mom repeated. "You're as red as a peach."

Sora's eyes blinked, surprised. "H-huh?"

She sighed. "Nevermind. I'll get the door." And with that, she began her way to the front door. When she opened it,she was greeted by a tall teenager, surprisingly only a year older than Sora. His hair was still growing after a haircut from some time ago. Silver-colored bangs were just barely unable to hide his turquoise eyes, skin faintly lighter than the norm.

"Hello, there, Riku," Sora's moms aid with a smile. "Where's Kairi?"

"She's decided to wait for us over near her place," he said simply.

"Oh, alright," she said. "Anyway, Sora is almost ready. You know him, always doing his work at the last minute. He should really learn a few things from you."

"I can hear you!" Sora yelled, grabbing his things from the kitchen as he walked to the door, only to find him.

He struggled to suppress any red from coming to his face, his eyes locked on the older teen. Just why did this have to happen? It had only gotten worse since he and Riku had gone to become Keyblade Masters. Well, he got the title, which he envied him a little for it, but that wasn't the point. The whole time he went around the universe, the Spirits as his allies, he just couldn't get Riku out of his head.

Just then, his old spirit friend, Meow Wow, popped out of nowhere. It's white, fuzzy, chubby cheeks making its yellow plus-esque eyes in black circles look even more adorable. Its tongue was sticking out like a dog's, as usual, which brought its species name to confusion. Unfortunately, only Riku and Sora could see him, much since with their experiences with the Dream Eaters beforehand.

"Oh, hey, little guy," he mouthed faintly to the strange animal, hoping his mother wouldn't notice of the strangeness. On the inside, he was relieved that his attention was reverted away from Riku. He didn't want to come of as weird.

He heard Riku laugh – a bit surprising, since he always seems so serious – which unfortunately brought his eyes to look up at him...

The brunette said nothing, despite his pants being in clear night. What the hell was wrong with him He was going to turn seventeen in the next several months. He seriously needed to get a hold of himself.

"W-what's so funny?" he asked, lightly turning his head away from seeing the teen.

"Oh, nothing," he said with a light chuckle, still in his somewhat deep voice. It sure fit with his skinny, yet secretly muscular figure.

Sora remembered what he wore on the day Destiny Islands was destroyed. Although he had been surrounded by darkness, his muscles from his bare arms popped out as his gloved hand stretched out to him, wanting him to go with him.

"Hello?" A hand waved in front of his face, surprising a pair of sapphire eyes.

"Wha...?"

"You sure you're feeling okay?" Riku's hand came up to his forehead as he knelt down to where Sora was, his face surprisingly close.

Sora was unable to stop his heart from skipping a bear. "I'm perfectly fine, Riku," he said, face beginning tot urn red.

The silver-haired male gave off a serious look, clearly showing he knew he was lying. "You sure?" he asked. "You look a bit red."

"A bit" was an understatement.

"I'm fine," Sora said, annoyed as he gave a light sulk.

A smile crept onto the older teen's face, head lightly shaking as he brought his hand away from his forehead. He brought himself to stay up, not seeming to realize something. Sora didn't, either. Maybe that was a good thing, or maybe not. You can never truly figure it out until the outcome occurs.

"C'mon," he said, "Kairi's waiting for us."

"Oh," Sora said, clearly having not realized Kairi hadn't been here with him. "Okay."

"You two have a good day at school."

"Thanks, Mom," Sora said as he gave a wave with his hand that didn't hold his bookbag.  
See you later."

With that, he easily slipped on his school shoes, and walked out if his house, on his way to get Kairi, and go to school with the one he's been close to ever since he was a kid.

Maybe they could talk sometime about things. No, that'd make things way too suspicious. But, his inner confusion and curiosity was getting the better of him, urging to know just what Riku thought of him. But, was that going to be a good thing or not? He wasn't too sure.


	2. Chapter 2 - Friendly Chat

"So..." Sora wasn't so sure on how to start a conversation at the moment. Well, he knew how to make one – how can you not? – but it was the subject matter that stumped him. Just what should they talk about, since most subjects were rather overdone. Although some were new, like the mentioning of Dream Eaters that they saw whenever they were waking up, or sometimes in their dreams, as well as the endeavor previously that the Dream Eaters helped them with. Despite that, many subjects they talked of were used a lot, and he didn't want to seem like a broken record.

A sudden thought came to mind. When he and Riku had decided to race another years ago when they were psyched about getting away from the island and to other worlds, his friend had said that the winner would not only name their ship, but share a paopu fruit with Kairi. Yes, he had a tad of a crush on her then, but now it faded behind, being replaced with a greater crush on his friendly enemy at that time.

"Is something wrong?" the silver-haired male asked, looking down at him slightly with a risen brow.

"Wha...?" Sora looked up instantly to where the voice came from. "Oh, no. Just thinking."

Riku smirked as a light chuckle escaped from him, eyes lightly rolling. Deciding to joke with him, it seemed, he said, "Well, that's surprising. You sure you're all right?"

"Hey!" The brunette yelled, cheeks lightly turning red from a childish anger that showed he got that he was joking, yet didn't like much of the fact of the said joke. "I do think, thank you very much. I've got the grades to prove it!"

"If you say so," the older teen said, clearing trying to push his friend's buttons. He knew he was succeeding already by the looks on his face.

"W-well, you're a year older than me, so clearly you're smarter than me/ No need to rub it in."

Riku laughed. "Oh, calm down," he said, bringing his non dominant hand to his friend's head, messing up his bangs more than it already was.

Sora couldn't help but laugh, not realizing he hadn't used his dominant hand. Not that it wasn't much of a think to be so frightened of. "Hey," he said, the laugh continuing through his voice. "cut it out!"

"And why should I?" he asked, never taking notice his voice's tone changed subconsciously to a sort of erotic tone. His eyes stared into the brunette's sapphire colored irises, bringing his face oddly close.

The younger teen was surprised, suddenly coming to a halt in his walk due to the strange behavior of the silver-haired male. Why was he doing this? He took notice of his eyes widening suddenly after some moments of silence, as if in a surprise, before pulling his face away, his expression changing in a flash.

He suddenly let out a laugh, a light tone that showed he felt a little awkward from what just happened. There was also a faint hearing that he was angered at himself. But Sora was a bit of a ditz at points, so it was rather easy right now to let this go well over his head, and this confusing him.

"I knew that'd get you," he said loudly. Had he actually done that on purpose? It seemed odd, really.

"W-well, yeah," Sora said. "That was clearly something I didn't expect."

"And that's a positive. 'least on my part," he said in reply. "Doing something your froeunds don't expect of you brings in more hilarious scares."

Sora couldn't help but notice something. "Riku," he said, "you're surprisingly more hyper than usual."

"What, do you expect me to be serious all the time?"

"N-no! It's not that. It's just..." He stopped, yet a bit confused as to why he did. "It just brings back memories of...well, before all of these adventures started."

Riku smiled lightly, chuckling. "Yeah," he said, the smile slowly beginning to increase with the remembrance of memories. "You have to admit, I was far less of a killjoy then."

"That's so true," Sora said in reply, laughing for a second. Just then, the question he had been thinking of asking beforehand came to his mind yet again.

"Oh, speaking of back then, I remember you beat me in that race."

Riku rose a brow lightly at this, unsure why he was mentioning this. "Yeah?"

"Did you share a paopu with Kairi?"

"Actually, about that-"

"Hey, guys! You going to get over here, or are Selphine and I going to leave you two behind?"

The two were surprised by the suddenly yell nearby. Looking forward, they took notice of a girl with shoulder-length, dark red hair. The sun gave it a brown tint, complimenting her school uniform's white and blue plaid design. Her friend some yards away had the same uniform, much since all of them were at the same school, yet her auburn hair was in an oddly curved fashion.

Sora smiled. "Oh, hey, Kairi," he said, his right hand waving to her and her friend's direction.

Selphine, slowly, was walking up from behind Kairi's direction, taking notice of something.

Her hazel eyes blinked. "Sora," she asked, "Riku?"

The older teen rose a brow. "What is it?"

Kairi took notice as well, her own sapphire eyes showing a surprise.

"Your hands."

"Huh?" Sora looked down to the side for a moment, only to find that his hand was in Riku's. Had they been like that the entire time!?

It was a little funny to see Riku had a similar reaction to him, and it only made things better when their eyes widened almost simultaneously, faces becoming red. Riku's wasn't all that red, especially compared to Sora's, yet it was still visible much since his skin was naturally pale. Immediately, the two pulled their hands from each other, a connection feeling as if it suddenly broke between them.

Riku was the only one who took complete notice from the two. On the outside he appeared to still be surprised. But, on the inside, he was disappointed that the connection had to be broken.

Selphine gave a risen brow, yet her eyes held a sort of interest to the situation. "Is there something going on between you guys that you're not telling us?"

Sora, immediately, went to defense mode at the saying of this. "W-what are you talking about? There's nothing going on!"

Why did he suddenly acting like this? Riku was a little confused by this, but couldn't help but be a little curious of it.

The auburn-haired girl smirked, arms crossing. "Oh? Are you so su-"

"Guys, we're going to be late!" Kairi was already running, not wanting to risk being late. Or so, she made it out to be like they were going to be late.

"We need to hurry," Riku said, looking to a near clock standing near the sidewalk they had all been walking on to avoid cars. He studied the hands, unsure if he was reading it right or if the time shown was off. "We don't have much time, it seems, before the bell is going to ring."

"Aahh!" It was clear that Sora hadn't expected to hear this. In a flash, he bolted, running to the school's direction.

"C'mon," he yelled, "we need to run!"

Riku looked over to Kairi's direction, taking notice that she was suddenly chuckling. But why? He looked back at the clock, angered to realized that he really did read the time wrong. Kairi had clearly wanted to get everyone to the school early. It really didn't seem like much of a bad idea, but it was becoming a little annoying much since it occurred almost every school day with this girl except for whenever she was sick.

Sora's yells in panic were heard from afar, his older friend running after him in hopes of getting him to calm down. That was, until...

"Sora, slow down, dammit! You're going to charge into a-"

Bam! A harsh clash was heard. The dark-haired girl's gasp sounding with no warning. In a flash, Riku was by the pole the ditz decided to ram into, kneeling down near his side. Looking at his friend, he was relieved to see that none of his bones or anything were fractured. But he couldn't help but still be concerned. There was a possibility the collision, if great enough, could have given him a concussion.

"Are you okay?"

A light groan in pain whimpered from Sora, arms beginning to move in an attempt to bring himself up. Quickly, though, Riku brought his hands to his shoulders, trying to calm him down and have him stay down. He didn't want him to hurt himself even more than he already did.

"No, Sora," he whispered, immediately seeming to calm his nerves, "You need to try and calm down. Especially after that collision. I can carry you, you know." It felt a little odd to him to be offering this, but it was a little more of a 'I'm doing this anyways' sort of thing. That made it even more awkward with the fact that this was coming from Riku, whom never offered something like this before.

"Aw, but Riku," Sora muttered, "I'm fine. A little crash is nothing compared to being almost turned into a vessel, or almost losing the one you-"

"Shhh." Riku slowly picked him up, having some help from Kairi and Selphine nearby to get him on his back. "Calm down. Just stay awake while I get you to the school nurse's office."

Riku knew a few things or two about concussions. If he did have one, some good symptoms to show it were the sudden lack of energy, and a temporary amnesia of locations, names, subjects, or any other things possible. Really, concussions were not a good thing to go through, and it was a major risk to let someone with a said concussion go to sleep. Basically, they'd die in their sleep if they did.

And Riku didn't want to lose him. He was close to losing him several times before. To Kairi, to the Heartless, to Xehanort...

"School nurse's office," Sora asked faintly, an almost childlike tone in his voice with a hint showing he was seeming tired. "What's that?"

Riku sighed lightly. Yep, he thought, it's a concussion.

"You'll see," he said. "You just need to stay awake for me, okay?"

"But I feel tired," Sora whined childishly. His eyes, although unseen by Riku, seemed droopy and yearning to close. But that would only result in his body becoming heavy on his friend, and Roxas and a heartless to appear again. The tone he had reminded Riku of his friend on his back when they were four and five years old.

He sighed. "No, Sora," he said. "I don't think you want to turn into a Heartless again."

"Okay, okay," the brunette said with a light sulk. The tone he had made Riku laugh a little, finding it a little cute.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing," he said with a chuckle. "Just stay awake, okay?"

"'Kay," Sora sulked, remaining silent for a moment. That was, until, a thought blurted out of his mouth. "Oh, Riku, I have a question."

"What is it?"

"Do you like anyone?"

Riku's eyes widened, surprised by the question that suddenly came from his friend. There was a silence of dialogue, only the sound of footsteps on hardened concrete destroying any chance of complete silence.

"Well?" Sora asked lightly, curious and a little impatient.

"Where...where did this question come from?"

"I'm just curious," Sora said simply, giving off a small shrug.

Riku was silent again, unsure on what to say at this point. He had to admit, he had a liking towards Sora, far greater than he imagined, really. He knew how to describe it, but he was unsure if he should even say it that way. It fell odd, yet it felt like he knew it all along, and this more familiar than any feelings he thought he had for Kairi. The teen was left confused about this, which he was barely managing to hide.

Should he lie? Maybe, just maybe, he could actually say the truth, and the younger teen could forget it due to the concussion. No, that sounded idiotic, and way too relying on luck. It was a very senseless move to make, anyways.

Wait a minute. He didn't ask whom it was he like. That is, not yet.

"There is...someone out there who has my interest," he said simply, not wanting to go into too much information.

"Don't put it like that," Sora said, smirking as if nothing happened to him. "You know you like them, admit it. Who is it?"

No reply came from the older teen for some time, the two getting closer to the school. During this silence, Riku realized something. Sora's voice was clear as day, his body's warmth clearer on his back than he had realized beforehand. Kairi and Selphine were nowhere to be found, likely because they had walked on ahead and were already at the school early. A little odd, but not too surprising.

"Riku?" The two were finally at the school campus, yet something was odd. As all but Riku's sense of touch were failing. Any other students nearby seemed somewhat blurred, others' conversations not holding a need to him. But, though this, he took notice of the brunette's body beginning to become a little limp. This surprised him, quickly adjusting his hold on him while he was on his back, jolting him lightly and sounding a "H-huh?" from the younger teen.

"Sora," he said immediately, "don't fall asleep."

An irritated groan sounded hist behind his ear. He couldn't help but chuckle in reply at the sound as he continued walking, soon bringing the two of them into the school, making his way to the nurse's office's direction.

"Oh, calm down," Riku said with a chuckle. Soon, a new silence started, but in no time the nurse's office was found. Eventually, the older male brought the other into the said office, seeing the nurse nearby. This brought a sense of relief through him, seeing that Sora wouldn't be left alone. Although he knew that beforehand, he still couldn't have helped but feel concern for him much due to his concussion. After all, they were friends. How could he not. Well, he knew he liked him as if he were more than a friend, but he wasn't so sure if Sora felt the same way, so he didn't know how else to word it.

Riku had to talk to the nurse for a moment, the younger teen still on his back and appearing to struggle staying awake again. Riku adjusted his hold on him, making him lightly jolt and wake up from his growing want of sleep. After some time, the nurse agreed to take care of Sora through the day, and told Riku to tell their teacher that Sora could not be in class today because of the odd predicament.

With the nurse walking over to her things, trying to find the things necessary to help Sora deal with his concussion, Riku brought Sora near one of the hospital bed, slowly letting go of him and letting him sit down before helping him lay down with the blanket over his body. Riku looked down softly at his friend, the look a rarity if you think of his personality after being shrouded in darkness some years back. He couldn't help but find his face a little cute. It was a little odd, but he couldn't help it much, really.

"I have to go to class," he said, his face suddenly becoming a little too close subconsciously. Or was it consciously. He wasn't too sure himself. "Don't die on me, okay?"

"Okay," Sora muttered, clearly struggling to not sleep. He was a lot more of a ditz at this point, it seemed, because he didn't seem to notice pale-like skin getting closer, silver bangs following it. Turquoise eyes were beginning to close as they were brought nearer to Sora's closing sapphire orbs, yet not from sleep, until their lips touched softly.


End file.
